WASHINGTON — FTI Consulting’s  strategic communications segment saw revenues dropping to $53m in the third quarter of 2020, down 11.7% from the same period of time the previous year.

The decrease in revenues was primarily due to lower demand for corporate reputation and financial communications services and a $2.3m decline in pass-through revenues.

“What is impacting our business, and has impacted the business since the pandemic started, is a slowdown in M&A and in big corporate reputation mandates. But we are continuing to help our all clients work through the crisis and stay focused on our existing client base,” said Mark McCall, the global leader of FTI's communication segment.

Adjusted segment EBITDA of $8.4 million, or 15.9% of segment revenues, compared to $12.6 million, or 21.1% of segment revenues, in the prior year quarter. The decrease in Adjusted Segment EBITDA was primarily due to lower revenues compared to the prior year quarter.

The segment’s revenue dropped more in Q3 than it did in Q2, when revenue dropped $2.2m, or 3.8%, to $56.9m from the second quarter of 2019. “We are still dealing with unprecedented uncertainty,” McCall said.

Business was slightly up, 1.2%, in the first quarter of 2020, during which businesses started changing dramatically due to the coronavirus outbreak.

That quarterly lift furthered the growth trend FTI’s communications segment saw in 2018 and 2019, during which revenue grew 16%.